Sometimes, the value in a business endeavor isn’t about what goes up – like revenue – but what comes down, like costs.
Social media can have some very clear efficiencies, most notably on the customer service side, but also in areas like training or communications. Let’s have a look.
Cost Per Issue Resolution
In customer service arenas, most companies have a pretty distinct idea of what it costs to tend to and resolve issues through typical channels, like a call center. To determine what it costs, you need to determine the cost of the resources (i.e. hardware or software) as well as salary and benefits.
If you’re tracking this through channels like phone or email and web support, you can also track it through social media. If you have the resources and an established social media presence, you can start by allocating some resources to handle some issues only through social media channels, while others continue to man traditional channels.
Issue Resolution Time
Monitor the speed of issue resolution, or how much time it takes from the moment an issue is captured to the time it’s closed and archived. Most CRMs can generate these reports for you.
Nevertheless, you’ll need to have tracking in place, at least at a high level, to evaluate this properly. To do so:
- Keep track of issues that originate in social media channels, like a complaint or question arising on Twitter or a blog comment.
- Classify issues that are resolved in social media channels, and how long they take from the initial post to delivery of an answer or resolution.
- Track the hybrid ones, too, such as those that start on the forum, but require carryover resolution through phone or email.
- Compare traditional resolution time (email/telephone support), resolution time that begins on social media and ends through telephone or email, and issues handled exclusively through social media.
This post was taken from our recent ebook, 5 Steps to Effective Social Media Measurement.
